The New Zealand government has provided NZ$ 80 000 (or US$ 55 600) worth of funding to Mint Innovation so the chemistry and microbiology specialist can explore new ways to recover valuable metals from used electronics.

|| A back gate that opens up an environmental vista for the Andersons who having lived on the fringe of Napier over the past 10 years  have taken the time and the interest to observe the number of native and introduced birds living in the immediate area of their back gate.

Campaigners have failed in an attempt to force fast food chain McDonald’s to reveal its use of plastic straws.

The proposal was put forward by a small shareholder and backed by pressure group SumOfUs. However, 92% of shareholders rejected the idea. McDonald’s reportedly said that the measure would be “unnecessary”.

Plastic straws have been targeted by environmental pressure groups as part of a wider effort to cut single-use plastic packaging. This week, hotel group Hilton announced it would be eliminating plastic straws and bottles worldwide.

Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, which is set to open later this year, will also ban single-use plastics. Pub chain Weatherspoon is also eliminating plastic straws across 900 outlets while Costa will phase them out over the course of the year.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove claimed that withdrawing from the EU could make it easier to ban plastic straws. However, disability groups have argued that banning plastic straws could have unintended consequences for people with neurological conditions.

Revered nation’s Statoil explorations hushed up here

The extensive use of all kinds of plastic in food production is a ticking time bomb because of the risks it poses to the environment and human health, says ESR Environmental Scientist Olga Pantos.

Renew Energy Ltd chief executive David McGregor says the Chinese investor is "ready to go". The company behind a controversial plan to build a waste to energy plant on the West Coast has signed a $300 million deal with a Chinese investor writes Joanne Carrol for Stuff Businessday

A new book, Beyond Manapouri: 50 years of environmental politics in New Zealand, traces the history of environmental governance in Aotearoa New Zealand since the heady days of the 1969 Save Manapouri campaign and tackles the reasons for our failure to address our biggest environmental issues.

Local Government New Zealand welcomes the release this morning of the Climate Change Adaptation Technical Working Group’s final report on how New Zealand can adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Smart Planet Technologies has sealed a license agreement with Linstol, a leading distributor for the airline cabin industry, to use EarthCoating.

In a world-first, University of Canterbury Hydrological and Ecological Engineering researchers have filed a patent application for their invention the Storminator™, which could be exactly the weapon that our waterways need.